Everton are on a roll under Sam Allardyce’s leadership, but up next is Premier League Champions Chelsea. Here are three tactical tweaks that will help them upset the odds:
1. Get up close and personal with Alvaro Morata
If Chelsea’s big no. 9 starts, and he hasn’t since the Blues lost 1-0 to West Ham, then he will present an obvious problem for West Ham with his excellent quality, but he also comes ready-made with a solution too.
Morata is an elegant striker, a wonderful player, but he’s nowhere near as physical as his predecessor Diego Costa. That plays into the hands of Ashley Williams and Mason Holgate, two centre-backs who are always ready to rumble. And given Sam Allardyce is a manager who espouses physicality, this sets things up perfectly for Everton if the Spaniard starts.
2. Keep the centre-backs in position
The thing is, Morata might not start. He’s dealing with “tiredness” and other injuries, and Chelsea have had success without him. They’ve done so without a striker, in fact, as Michy Batshuayi has been on the bench with Chelsea starting Eden Hazard, Pedro and Willian together as a fluid front three.
This trio has proved to be difficult to handle, with Eden Hazard as a false nine conducting things, dropping deep into space and pulling defenders out of position, allowing Willian and Pedro to raid in behind.
So the key for Chelsea here would be to defend deep, yes, but the centre-backs must realise what is happening in front of them is a trap. A bait. And the centre-backs must not step forward to deal with Eden Hazard; they must hold their position and let the defensive midfielders handle Hazard when he drops. This way they will not expose any space for Pedro and Willian to run into.
3. Don’t be afraid to pass it around their box
Obviously Sam Allardyce’s attacking gameplan revolves around big forward passes and long-balls. Dominic Calvert-Lewin is exceptional in the air so perhaps Everton will be tempted to do that, but as West Ham showed; perhaps the best way to score against Chelsea is short and sharp passes around the edge of their box – exposing Chelsea’s positional instability.
This would require Calvert-Lewin to be properly supported, but with Gylfi Sigurdsson coming off perhaps his best performance for Everton, and with Wayne Rooney relishing big matches, Everton have the tools to do just that. With their defensive organisation and some coherent attacking play, the Toffees could upset the Champions.
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